Man accused of strangling daughter released
He stated that his brother took custody of his daughter, who was seven years old, but was frustrated by the fact that there was no one to look after her.
SITEKI – “According to my knowledge, he told the police officers that he strangled his daughter because he had no place to keep her.”
This was a statement made by *Vusi, the brother of *Gcina, who is alleged to have strangled his daughter while in his custody last year.
In a recorded interview with Vusi, he mentioned that his brother was arrested by the Pigg’s Peak police, who then transferred him to the Mpaka Police Post, which is closer to where the mysterious incident took place last year May.
Vusi said police arrested his brother a fortnight ago and he was later released in the past week as police informed him that they were still to conduct forensic investigations on the bones found on the scene of the crime at Mpaka area in a forest.
He stated that his brother took custody of his daughter, who was seven years old, but was frustrated by the fact that there was no one to look after her.
deCided
Vusi said his brother sent his daughter to a place in the Hhohho Region, but she was not accepted and he then decided to take her away.
His brother is in the barber business.
“According to him, he informed me and the police that he strangled his daughter because he had no place to keep her. His girlfriend did not accept her,” he alleged.
Vusi mentioned that as a family, they wanted justice to be served in the matter.
“We don’t condone crime, hence we believe he has to face justice,” he said.
When called, his brother was not available on his mobile phone.
The deceased’s mother, *Sihle, claimed that Gcina did not communicate with her that her daughter needed a place to stay.
She alleged that they reported the matter to the police last year when Vusi denied her time to see their daughter.
She claimed that she became worried and they enquired about her daughter’s whereabouts, hence they reported the matter at the Pigg’s Peak Police Station.
Sihle said Gcina took their daughter to his relative residing at Hhohho, but was not specific of the area.
“Months later after May, the police at Pigg’s Peak then took him to show them where he had confessed to have strangled and killed my daughter.
“We were told that they were in the company of those from Mpaka and the bones were taken to Good Shepherd Hospital,” she alleged.
Cementing his sister’s allegations, *Bheki claimed that they were still shocked by the conduct of the police in releasing someone who confessed to a crime without any proper explanation to his family.
Bheki said they started to search for his niece last year, after his sister reported that the father of her daughter was not cooperative with her when she wanted to see her child.
inFormed
He said they got to learn about the information that his niece was strangled after police informed them, following their interrogation conducted on the child’s father.
Bheki claimed that there was something amiss in the release of the father of the child due to the fact that he was arrested but not charged.
He alleged that police told them they would prefer charges once they have got the forensic report back from South Africa.
“We want justice to be served in this matter and police should exercise transparency in their operations.”
“It is a sad story and as a family we are still shocked and traumatised that an innocent soul can be killed like that. We want justice to be served in this matter and police should exercise transparency in their operations,” he said.
Communications Officer in the Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) Office Mihla Khumalo has once pointed out that people with cases of this nature, who needed the services of his office should report them so that they could attend to their grievances.
Confirmed
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the matter.
“There is a matter of a strangled child reported with the police but investigations are still ongoing,” she said.
Worth mentioning is that this publication this past week reported about Zakhele Dlamini, who strangulated his daughter at Mangcongo area and was arrested on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, cases of domestic violence against children are on the rise in the country.
Recently, this publication also reported about a well-known attorney who allegedly sexually violated his four children, a domestic worker and his niece. *Not their real names.